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 Saint Stacey
            
| SMF - 2017-10-19 8:38 PM
Thank you very much everyone for your input so far, I really appreciate it! It’s nice to hear the little things in conformation, and movement that work well for barrel horses, but may not be a desired trait in other disciplines etc. And the specifics that some of you look for.
I definitely appreciate knowing which futurities to look into more also. The future fortunes seemed like a good program to me, I found one filly I really like that isn’t as far as I can tell (she was a bit out of what I had aside price wise so was trying to save up more before asking the owner more about her so I didn’t feel like I was wasting his time) so not sure if that’s worth being a deal breaker or not? Would it generally be for some people? Just curious.
I’m with you on being a mare person, Katie. I love my boys too(raise minis/Shetland/Hackney’s also), but my riding horses are all currently mares. :)
How heavily would you guys rate pedigree and performance of horses in it on an otherwise well built yearling? Especially with race horses.
I’ll use one of the horses I’m interested in as an example. So say you have a yearling who is out of a stallions first foal crop, so no offspring even of riding age yet to evaluate. He never barrel raced himself, but raced on the track and did pretty well (earnings of approx $416k). That being said he generally ran at 330 yards, and ran better near the end of his races that I was able to find and watch. As well as an article from his owner I found saying he would probably excel around 350 yards or races over the 330 yards. His dam also raced and had a successful career, while she had wins at 300, 350, and 400 yards they seemed to run her mostly at 400, and 440 yards. I know these aren’t long races, but also aren’t super short either. It’s entirely possible I’m over thinking things way too much, but do you take into account distances the parents and their parents were most successful at running say 220 yards vs 400 plus?
Sorry that was a bit long, but hope it makes sense as it was one of my thoughts today. The fillies dam side has several barrel horses, and the sires top side is corona cartel and from what I’ve seen they do well so I may be over analyzing. But figure so much comes into play and can go either way with babies that I would rather stack the cards more in my favor than against if possible. LOL :)
Also, thank you for the welcome “chandlers mom”!!
In my opinion, pedigree has a lot to do with the success of a horse and it can give you more insight into certain traits a horse might have. A solid pedigree increases your odds of having a prospect that actually performs. Typically no name horses that turn into superstars are a fluke, not the norm.
As for race distances, for me the most important stat is where they consistently break at and where they are to the first 200 yards when looking at an OT horse for a barrel prospect.
When it comes to the sire and dam, it depends. I have certain bloodlines I like. If it’s a race stallion, I want him to have a record and solid pedigree with an outstanding dam. There are simply too many nice and affordable stallions that have won a lot. If it’s the dam and she ran, the end record isn’t as important to me as where she broke and where she was at the first call. It’s been my experience that the quickness of the feet come from the mare and the speed comes from the sire. Again, this is just my opinion so take it for whatever it’s worth to you. | |
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Member
Posts: 33

| I know this is dragging up a really old post, but I just wanted to thank everyone that took the time to reply! I did end up getting my first barrel horse/ prospect shortly after this post, and couldn't be more excited about her! Anyways, this is my new kid:
  Thank you again everyone, I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions along the way :):):) | |
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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
 
| Very nice. | |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
       
| my kind of horse | |
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 Expert
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| All of my prospects that were " Supposed" to make barrel horses tanked. THe ones of average breeding but had speed and a good work ethic have ran circles around ALL of them and stayed sound for a life time. | |
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
     Location: Wonderful Wyoming | lopnaround - 2017-10-19 10:07 AM Great question!! I just went thru this! I'll just add a couple of things, but I am sure you will get a lot of great advice here! 1) I narrow papers down to Future Fortunes enrolled horses. If you are really wanting to futurity check Triple Crown/VGBRA/5 States enrollment too depending on your location
2) I always ask for a video trotting. We've noticed that colts with a big animated trot with a lot of shoulder action up front and also a lot of drive (keep their hocks underneath them when trotting) translate to big strided, athletic horses.
3) I prefer more of a "racey" look- clean, thinner neck that ties in higher on the shoulders, nice big set to a shoulder with higher withers and short back/long underline, and a nice hip that ties in lower to the gaskin (keeps hocks up underneath them). I have the perfect filly for you! Everyone likes her other than she does have a racy look to her. Must come from her dam. The filly I am keeping is thick and stocky and she is the one I get the interest in.
Edited by wyoming barrel racer 2018-01-26 2:58 PM
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
        Location: Gainesville, TX | Looks like a very nice prospect. Now just get it into the right hands. | |
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 Saint Stacey
            
| Wow! Very nice filly! I’ll tell you what, Coronado Cartel might be one of the prettiest stallions around. He’s spectacular in the flesh. I think you got a really nice filly that should be a producer should you ever want to go the route. | |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
              Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Very handsome/sexy filly you got there. | |
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| She's gorgeous, and her dam was so much fun to watch! Hopefully your girl will win Pendleton just like her momma! | |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
      Location: Arkansas | My Dear, you done good
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Member
Posts: 33

| Thank you everyone! I'm really excited about her :):) And definitely, I started trying to pay a bit of attention to different futurity trainers. I want to until her 4 year old year at the earliest to give her a bit more time to grow up, but plan on getting her started later this year. Don't know if most futurity at 3, or wait?
SKM, I've never had the opportunity to see him in person, but would love to!! He looks gorgeous in the pictures I've seen of him. I'm really curious to see how his first foals do this year on the track since 2016 was his first foal crop. I don't know if they're all like my filly, but she has a great mind and if I didn't already love her enough her personality is hard to beat too. and yes, I'll probably end up pulling embryos from her at some point hopefully.
Madredepeanut, she looked like a neat mare to watch from the videos I could find of her when I was looking at my filly! That'd be beyond cool!! I'll settle for me surviving taking up barrel racing right now though, jk, kind of. lol. As long as she stays sound and healthy for a long time I'll be happy no matter what she ends up accomplishing. I can't wait to get her started though and see how she does :)
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| SMF - 2018-01-26 9:45 PM
Thank you everyone! I'm really excited about her :):) And definitely, I started trying to pay a bit of attention to different futurity trainers. I want to until her 4 year old year at the earliest to give her a bit more time to grow up, but plan on getting her started later this year. Don't know if most futurity at 3, or wait?
SKM, I've never had the opportunity to see him in person, but would love to!! He looks gorgeous in the pictures I've seen of him. I'm really curious to see how his first foals do this year on the track since 2016 was his first foal crop. I don't know if they're all like my filly, but she has a great mind and if I didn't already love her enough her personality is hard to beat too. and yes, I'll probably end up pulling embryos from her at some point hopefully.
Madredepeanut, she looked like a neat mare to watch from the videos I could find of her when I was looking at my filly! That'd be beyond cool!! I'll settle for me surviving taking up barrel racing right now though, jk, kind of. lol. As long as she stays sound and healthy for a long time I'll be happy no matter what she ends up accomplishing. I can't wait to get her started though and see how she does :)
Good luck in your endeavors with her and keep us posted! I bet she will be an athletic bugger! I hope you two learn a lot together and have a blast along the way  | |
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 Saint Stacey
            
| SMF - 2018-01-26 10:45 PM
Thank you everyone! I'm really excited about her :):) And definitely, I started trying to pay a bit of attention to different futurity trainers. I want to until her 4 year old year at the earliest to give her a bit more time to grow up, but plan on getting her started later this year. Don't know if most futurity at 3, or wait?
SKM, I've never had the opportunity to see him in person, but would love to!! He looks gorgeous in the pictures I've seen of him. I'm really curious to see how his first foals do this year on the track since 2016 was his first foal crop. I don't know if they're all like my filly, but she has a great mind and if I didn't already love her enough her personality is hard to beat too. and yes, I'll probably end up pulling embryos from her at some point hopefully.
Madredepeanut, she looked like a neat mare to watch from the videos I could find of her when I was looking at my filly! That'd be beyond cool!! I'll settle for me surviving taking up barrel racing right now though, jk, kind of. lol. As long as she stays sound and healthy for a long time I'll be happy no matter what she ends up accomplishing. I can't wait to get her started though and see how she does :)
I have a 4 year old Pappasito that I love! She’s a beautiful mare. I went the the E to pick a horse up. My mom went with me so we stopped in to see Butch. Anyhow he took us up to see all the stallions. I was star struck over Pappi. He was just beautiful. Then he brought Coronado out. It was hard to pick who was nicer. Coronado had the nicer eye of the two. Both really are outstanding stallions as far as looks go.
I sent my Pappi to a working cowhorse guy to break. He really wanted to keep her. Out of all the color and cow breds he had in his barn, everyone that came there wanted to know what the big sorrel mare was because of how pretty she was, lol!
Just watch the futurity world. A lot of things you think you know aren’t real. Also a lot of trainers aren’t how they appear on the surface. I’d highly recommend Ashley Schaffer, even though she’s in WY. I’d be very leery of a lot of the bigger names. Especially the men. JMHO. | |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
     Location: Texas | Excellent choice in a prospect!!!!! Wowsa! | |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
     Location: Texas | To answer your futurity question... It depends on what your personal goals are for the horse. One of the big futurity goals is to have them ready for the juvenile Which would have them running as a 3YO in the winter of their 3YO year, right before Jan 1 when they all turn 4. I personally didn't want to go to the juvenile because of my work schedule and the fact that I am doing this myself and would have had to use a lot of vacation days, so I passed.
It definitely doesn't hurt to wait until 5 and run them at the 5YO futurities but there are a few that they wont be eligible for that are 4 and under futurities.
I think a good rule of thumb is to train like you want to run them at 4, and then back off if needed and run them at 5 if things need to change.
ETA-and I agree with SKM. Go watch some futurities and spend time during the exhibition days and watch the warm up area too. Watch what everyone is doing and how their horses look. See what happens when the horse messes up and how the jockey handles it. You want your horse to love its job and continue to do so throughout the year.
Edited by casualdust07 2018-01-27 12:12 PM
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 Saint Stacey
            
| casualdust07 - 2018-01-27 11:09 AM
To answer your futurity question... It depends on what your personal goals are for the horse. One of the big futurity goals is to have them ready for the juvenile Which would have them running as a 3YO in the winter of their 3YO year, right before Jan 1 when they all turn 4. I personally didn't want to go to the juvenile because of my work schedule and the fact that I am doing this myself and would have had to use a lot of vacation days, so I passed.
It definitely doesn't hurt to wait until 5 and run them at the 5YO futurities but there are a few that they wont be eligible for that are 4 and under futurities.
I think a good rule of thumb is to train like you want to run them at 4, and then back off if needed and run them at 5 if things need to change.
ETA-and I agree with SKM. Go watch some futurities and spend time during the exhibition days and watch the warm up area too. Watch what everyone is doing and how their horses look. See what happens when the horse messes up and how the jockey handles it. You want your horse to love its job and continue to do so throughout the year.
Yep! It’s amazing what you can learn by watching the warmup pen outback. Lots of true colors show up. This is how I picked out the guy that I now have break all my colts. He’s a ranch horse versatility guy. I watched a horse blow up on him in the back 40 where no one was. Cody just sat up there, never lost his temper and simply worked through it. I decided right then that he would do great with my hotter type race breds. I’ve sent him 4 and he’s never disappointed me. They’ve all come back we’ll broke, happy and minds still intact. | |
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Member
Posts: 33

| Thank you for all of that info! I tried to do the same and just quietly observe trainers before sending my rope horse out, so definitely agree with you both there. I don't share my riding horses well so had a hard time putting her in someone elses hands, but with my Dad just passing away at the time I was trying to get her roping I just couldn't put her behind calves as much as she needed at the time so it worked.
Also thank you for mentioning and kind of clarifying what the juvenile classes were, I saw them but wasn't really sure how they worked or for what age they were for. Are they essentially just for the December before coming 4 year old futurity horses compete then? | |
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